Mendes Casts Whishaw as Bond Gadget-Meister Q in Skyfall

Mendes Casts Whishaw as Bond Gadget-Meister Q in Skyfall

Clearly, director Sam Mendes is seeking to update the Bond franchise and pull in some younger viewers. While Daniel Craig and Judi Dench are returning as agent 007 and his boss, M, respectively, John Cleese will not come back as Q. That role will go to a younger-generation gadget-master to be played by Ben Whishaw, 31, a terrific actor who shined as Freddy Lyon in the Brit TV series "The Hour," Ariel in Julie Taymor's "The Tempest," one of several incarnations of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There," and Jane Campion's "Bright Star," among other films. He co-starred with Craig in "Layer Cake" as well, and stars opposite Tom Hanks in the upcoming "Cloud Atlas."

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Zhao said with her Bass Reeves biopic, she’ll direct a more traditional cast like she did with her first-timers: “You can work with an actor in a certain way, you can create an environment like Terrence Malick has always done.”